Making The Right Graphic Choice

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You’d think it would be easier today. A few years ago, there were dozens of makers of graphics chips, and trying to pick out the wheat from the chaff required the same set of skills it takes to follow major league baseball statistics. Maybe that’s why Dave Salvator, our lead graphics analyst, is also a big baseball fan.

In fact, choosing a card is actually harder than it used to be. It’s true that there are fewer companies in the business of churning out graphics processors these days. But each of those companies offers its own confusing array of options. It’s even harder for gamers — it wasn’t all that long ago that gamers simply bought a Voodoo2 card and they were set.

Here’s a true story. I was at Fry’s  silicon valley’s famous computer-store chain — a couple of years back, watching people as they bought hardware. I noticed one guy (white male, mid-thirties) come into the graphics card aisle carrying an issue of Computer Gaming World. He had the magazine flipped to the latest graphics card roundup I’d written. Being human, my chest practically burst open with pride. After all, this guy was going to spend his hard-earned dollars based on my advice!

He stared at the magazine, then stared at the stacks and stacks of video cards. This went on for a good fifteen minutes. Finally, he sighed, closed the magazine and picked the cheapest card available. I was, to say the least, chagrined, but that little incident was a clear illustration of how complicated these choices can be. It’s more complicated today, because the technology has become more complex.

With that thought in mind, let’s talk about some of the underlying technologies, and then move on to a discussion of the companies still fighting it out in the market.